More and more electronic devices such as mobile phones, MP3 players, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) are becoming smaller and smaller while having more and more information stored and/or accessible through them. Users are relying on these devices and becoming all the more dependant on them. Due to this they are designed to be small and easy to carry around. However, as the user carries his device with him he will sometimes be in situations or environments where he will drop his device and for this reason a device must be able to withstand a certain amount of shocks and still be able to work according to specifications. In some devices having two or more body parts that are hingably or foldably connected it is important that the two parts are able to maintain the positions they are put in by a user even as the device is dropped. For example a clam shell phone that does not remain closed when dropped will be very annoying to a user. Such clam shell phones and also other devices having foldably or hingeably connected parts are known to use a magnet, possibly an electrical magnet cooperating with an anchor plate or other magnet to maintain the two body parts in a closed position. However as these devices are dropped the surfaces of the magnet and the anchor plate are forced apart or out of alignment by the shock to the device as it is dropped and this leads to a reduced magnetic flux between the anchor plate and the magnet which can lead to a failure in keeping the device properly closed. Also, the magnet may also shift or rotate by a small amount as it is dropped and this can also lead to a change in the magnetic flux also resulting in a failure to keeping the two body parts together i.e. in a locked position.
A device that employs a robust locking mechanism for keeping two body parts temporarily secured in a closed position would thus be useful in modern day society.